C4C Statement on the NYC FY23 Adopted Budget

Campaign for Children applauds Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams for several crucial investments announced in the FY 2023 Budget Agreement. In particular Campaign for Children appreciates the following investments: 

• $10 million to provide child care for undocumented children and $9.2 million for low income child care vouchers;
• Funding to support salary increases for day care and preschool special education providers; 
• Restored $9.16M funding to Community Schools and added $5M to support new schools;
• Baselined funding for the Summer Youth Employment Program;
• An expansion of the Work Learn Grow youth employment program;
• An expansion of Summer Rising to 110,000 seats;
• $60 million toward Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for human service workers.

We look forward to working with the Administration and City Council to build on the accomplishments of this budget. With this commitment in mind, the Campaign for Children also urges the City to map out and execute strategies that ensure New York City’s children and youth have access to high-quality early childhood education and youth services they need. Human services workers advocated for $86 million for a 5.4% COLA. While the initial investment in the human services COLA gets us a significant amount of the way to where we need to be, it only accounts for half of the current rate of inflation, and as a result, it does not actually keep pace with the cost of living, as it is intended to. The City must also expedite background checks for CBO staff. Additionally, the City must prioritize continued progress toward pay parity for CBO early education providers and directors, support staff, and teachers; it must also expand the child care system to increase access to extended day and year-round 3-K and UPK options for working families; and age down the system to reach greater numbers of infants and toddlers with full day year round care. Finally, the City should focus on expanding access to universal afterschool for elementary school students and advance rate equity across the youth service system.